Birth control provides many health benefits

It's difficult for me to justify anti-woman groups' opposition to birth control being covered under insurance without co-pay. If the birth control refusal clause had been expanded, millions of women would have lost access to affordable birth control simply because they worked at a religiously affiliated hospital or attended a similar university.

This is not about religion, it is about healthy women and healthy families.

Studies have shown that birth control reduces the risk of cervical cancer, maternal and infant mortality, symptoms of endometriosis and unintended pregnancies. Restricting affordable access to this service would have eliminated the many benefits that come with it and violated a woman's health and religious liberty.

Paulette Ash

Cedar Rapids